AG Mark Brnovich Issues Statement on Ruling in Favor of School and State Rights

PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich released the following statement after U.S. District Judge Reed O’Conner issued a nationwide injunction prohibiting the Obama Administration from enforcing its bathroom directives against public schools across the country:

“This stay protects Arizona schools and is a major step forward in our fight against President Obama’s unlawful bathroom mandate,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich.“The Obama Administration cannot attempt to rewrite laws and threaten to take away federal funding from our schools to force them to conform. We don’t need the federal government setting student locker room and restroom policies for our schools.”

Attorney General Brnovich and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas joined 13 states in a federal lawsuit challenging President Obama’s mandate requiring all schools to open up boys and girls locker rooms and restrooms to students of the opposite sex based on student perceptions of their “gender identity.” The Heber-Overgaard Unified School District is also an Arizona plaintiff in the lawsuit. The federal court lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Texas.

The court prevented the federal government from relying on its flawed, unlawful guidance documents to schools and employers in an injunction that is effective nationwide.